Jerilyn
Feminine · “spear ruler”
Garlic is a spear. The Old English is gar-leac, the spear-leek, named for the shape of its leaves, and gar is the same word that opens Gerald and closes Edgar and Oscar. A vegetable and a row of medieval men's names are built on the word for a throwing spear.
How old is the name Jerilyn?
Jerilyn first appears in US birth records in 1931 — 94 years ago. The typical Jerilyn alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 4,300 people named Jerilyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jerilyn most popular?
Jerilyn peaked in 1942, reaching #396 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 11,536 places below that high. See the whole 1942 chart.
Where it comes from
From ger to Jerilyn
The story of Jerilyn
Ger, the spear, is one of the busiest elements in old Germanic names. Gerald is spear-rule, Gerard is spear-hardy, Gertrude is spear-strength, Edgar is wealth-spear, Oscar is god-spear, Roger is fame-spear. Weapons were prestige words and parents used them freely, the way later centuries used virtues. The same word turns up outside names too: a garfish has a spear for a snout, and garlic is the spear-leek, which is one of the more surprising things an English dictionary will tell you. Jerilyn belongs to the mid-twentieth-century American habit of putting a clipped man's name in front of the -lyn ending, which produced Jerilyn, Marilyn, Carolyn and Sherilyn within about thirty years of each other.
Meaningscholars disagree
spear ruler, at one remove
Jeri is a short form of Geraldine or Gerald, from Germanic ger, a spear, with wald, rule. The -lyn ending is the free-floating American suffix and carries no meaning. So the front half has a documented Germanic sense and the back half has none.
How the name formed
- ger
- Gerald
- Geraldine
- Jerilyn
Pronouncing Jerilyn
JER-uh-lin
Three syllables, stress on the first. jer-uh-LIN, with the weight at the end, is occasionally used. Jerilyn, Jerilynn and Jerrilyn are said identically.
Nicknames for Jerilyn
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1931
- Most girls named
- 1943182 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #396reached in 1942
- Change vs 2021
- +40.0%7 in 2025, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Jerilyns among us
people named Jerilyn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Jerilyn
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Roslyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jerilyn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Roslyn climbed just as high around 1927, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Roslyn's path sketches the road Jerilyn is walking now.
Jerilyn sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Jerilyn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jerilyn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The front half has a documented Germanic meaning with visible descendants.
- Three short forms, two of which serve either child.
- Three syllables with a clear falling rhythm.
- Jerilynn, Jerrilyn and Gerilyn are all in use, so the spelling will be given every time.
- It is strongly represented among older generations and places the name in the middle of the last century.
- Only half of it has a meaning, and that half is several removes back.
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What they receive
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Jerilyn
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jerilyns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,300 people named Jerilyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jerilyn in 2025?
- Jerilyn ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jerilyn?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Jerilyn — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jerilyn with classmates?
- Jerilyn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jerilyn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Gregoria#11932 · Vonnie#11932 · Odella#11932 · Theodore#11932 · Hyla#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jerilyn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jerilyn and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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